Pity the protestors

Just now, I saw TV3 coverage of the protest at PKR HQ organised by Jenapala. I felt pity looking at the (elderly) women folk who seemed uninterested or unaware of what’s going on. Some came with kids. There were some teenagers and youths as well. Majority of the protester seemed to be Indians. There were few banners and protest shouts. Later, the news showed some of them having meal at restaurant. The news said about 200 people came (maybe be including about 20 reporters/photographers). From the video, can see about 50 or so people.

Watch the video taken by Malaysiakini:

Some of the questions seems valid. Many complaints have been lodged but nothing seems to be happening.

Here’s two news articles (one from Star and another from Malaysiakini). You can read and enjoy the discrepancies.

About 100 people with some children in tow turned up in front of the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya this morning for a 30-minute ‘protest’ against the ongoing party elections, demanding it to be stopped.

What’s more almost three quarters of the noisy ‘protestors’ who were ferried to the venue in three buses appeared to have no idea of what was going on.

Organiser P Jenapala claimed that the party elections has been fraught with irregularities and malpractice, and that the “members present here are very unhappy”.

However, upon being approached by reporters some said that they were not entirely sure what was happening, and neither were they party members.

Kamisah Arippin, 75, said that she had no clue as to what was going on. She had come just for the ride, pointing to the person who had invited her to the 30-minute ‘event’.

Her friends, Kamariah Bapu, 70, and Zaleka Mohd Ashin, 72, also confessed they were not party members and that they only recognised Jenapala through his several TV appearances.

And another lot of around 50 youths looked no older than 19, some of whom later also conceded that they weren’t party members.

Jenapala however insisted that they were all party members and that they were “deeply upset over the party elections”.

“But I don’t deny that some of them may have been paid and planted by our enemies to sabotage my programme,” he said.

‘Anwar must go’ bugle sounds

Jenapala also insisted that party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim should step down.

“He calls himself a ketua umum when he was not democratically elected by the party members. If he wants to be a leader, then contest. For now, he doesn’t even have the right to lead the party,” he said.

Jenapala was the party’s deputy secretary-general until he was sacked after it was discovered that he had been declared a bankrupt, a charge that he described as “defamatory”.

“Yes, I was bankrupt in 2001 but that is an old story. They don’t even have records of my sacking and it was improperly done,” he said.

He also insisted that he be allowed to contest the deputy presidency, a post that he is confident of winning.

“Azmin Ali (PKR vice-president and deputy president candidate) knows that he has no fighting chance against me. He knows that he will lose because a majority of PKR members are Indians,” he said.

Jenapala also said that he will be filing an injunction next week to stop the party congress scheduled for Nov 26 and that he will also sue the party secretariat for “defamation”.

“If someone as successful as Zaid can say something like that, it has to be true,” said Kottapan.

Before he brought the curtain down on the event, Jenapala went up to the reporters to apologise for the haphazard organisation of the demonstration, promising a better organised sequel, “a massive mega-rally”, next time.

The protesters shouted “Hidup Zaid” a few times before leaving the PKR headquarters.